Battery failure in Keyfob

[FrankfurtDave]

Hi All,

 

 

I thought I would tell you about a failure that I had at the weekend, as perhaps it might help someone else in the future :-)

 

On Sunday I drove up into the middle of the nowhere to take my dogs for a walk. On returning to the car (2018 Karoq with Keyless entry) I was shocked to find that the car would not open.

 

Neither the keyless entry on any doors or via the remote control button. It seemed like the battery had died without giving me any prior warning that it needed to be replaced - this is what is supposed to happen.

 

So at this point I have no way to get into car, I have 2 wet and grumpy dogs and internet access to look up how to proceed. 

 

After swearing like a drunken sailor for 5 mins, here is what I found out:

 

On the drivers side door handle there is an old fashioned key slot hidden behind a piece of plastic. To access the slot you can use the key itself and from underneath slide this into a little hidden hole. When inserted you pull the main door handle out as though you are opening the door and lever the key up slightly to remove the plastic cover.

 

Now you can get into the drivers side of the car. Unfortunately, the central locking does not work but you can lean over and open the other doors manually from the inside. Therefore I opened the rear drivers door and laid the seat down to get access to boot. I am sure I could have crawled in and opened the boot but decided to simply push the dogs in the back.

 

Next was getting the engine going. Being a keyless entry system there is no key access available and I found that the Start/Stop did nothing even with the keyfob in the car.

 

However, I found that if I held the key against the button, with the lock button pointing directly at it then it would work - hence I got the engine started and managed to get home.

 

Changing the battery is a 2 min job requiring a 2025 battery, a large flat head screwdriver and a very small flat screwdriver (plenty of vids on the internet). I am now storing all 3 in the car in case it happens again in the future.

 

Anyway, sorry for the long description and lack of pictures but maybe this will be of help to someone else stuck in the middle of nowhere some day.

 

 

All the best 

Dave

[JohnD5314]

There have been a number of reports of keyfob battery failure recently - I suspect on the early models (mine was built in Nov 17). I had exactly the same problem a couple of weeks ago, luckily at home and I had the spare key to get me out of trouble. I have seen (and read in the manual) that there should be a warning on the dash but I didn't see one either. I assume the fob is transmitting all the time with a KESSY system.

 

Your description of the workrounds is excellent, I am thinking that it will be a good idea to keep a spare battery in the glove box. Initial entry with the key is easy when you know about it, as is changing the battery. I changed batteries in both fobs as well.

[FrankfurtDave]

I will certainly report the lack of notification to my Skoda dealer as I think that is wrong. Who knows may help in getting an upgrade to the new motion detection keys - but I doubt it.

 

I certainly think keeping a spare battery in the glovebox is sensible.

[MJ1]

I suggest that a better way of letting Skoda know of this is a complaint on Skoda web site, fill in the web form. Certainly mention it to the dealer, but they will likely not pass it back to Skoda. If enough people complain directly to Skoda the better chance they might take note...

 

Good post and useful to know. I have preemptively changed my battery after 20,000 miles roughly a year and 3 months after getting the car...

[RichardPB]

A way to tell if the battery is going flat is that the red LED on the key fob will stop working when pressing the buttons or using KESSY but the car will still open and start the car until the battery dies.

[croquemonsieur]

I've been wondering recently about the expected life of a key fob battery.  I can't recall ever having to replace the fob battery in my last car - a Yeti that I owned for 4.5years, but just maybe the Skoda dealer did that at one of the annual services though I doubt it.  I know it depends on usage, but I think with my last but one car - a Saab 9-5 that I had for 9years (1yr old when bought), I had to replace the fob battery twice, so that works out at a 3-4year life.  However I was surprised, while phoning my Skoda dealer the other day on one or two matters, when I asked about expected fob battery life and he suggested 9-12months, which rather startled me.  Interested to hear what other people have found - my car's not KESSY.

[womanofkent]

We had to replace both our batteries a few weeks back car about 18 months old, main key no warning and couldn’t get it to start the engine but thankfully we were at home, my key when I used it said low battery, but tbh blink and you’d have missed it. Argos in our nearest Sainsburys had the batteries in stock 2 for 4.99.  We’ve had keyless entry startup on other cars since 2006 and not had to replace the batteries so quickly before. Maybe Skoda not so clever 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Doogle69]

51 minutes ago, womanofkent said:

We had to replace both our batteries a few weeks back car about 18 months old, main key no warning and couldn’t get it to start the engine but thankfully we were at home, my key when I used it said low battery, but tbh blink and you’d have missed it. Argos in our nearest Sainsburys had the batteries in stock 2 for 4.99.  We’ve had keyless entry startup on other cars since 2006 and not had to replace the batteries so quickly before. Maybe Skoda not so clever 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think the moral of the tale is to keep a spare battery with the 2 screwdrivers needed in case it happens away from home and the spare key.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[avi_123]

Hello,

 

I have had the exact same experience but neither main fob or spare worked. Did you alarm go off when entering the car when accessing via conventional key? 
 

 

[pryorkshire]

Had exactly the same thing happen to me.  Parked the car and locked ok.  When I returned the car opened ok but when I tried to start it the warning of a flat key battery came up and the car wouldn't start, there had been no previous warning.  Luckily I remembered reading in the manual about holding the key against the start button and car started ok.

 

It is recommended to change both main and spare key batteries as a key is transmitting even if not being used.  I also keep a spare battery in the car.

 

The old batteries had only lasted about 18 months.

Edited 10 January, 2020 by pryorkshire
Additional note added

[avi_123]

Ah - did the alarm go off when you gained access to the car by any chance? Mine keeps going off everytime I unlock with the key! 

[pryorkshire]

7 minutes ago, avi_123 said:

Ah - did the alarm go off when you gained access to the car by any chance? Mine keeps going off everytime I unlock with the key! 

 

The alarm didn't go off on my car as I opened the car keyless ok and then the battery died and it wouldn't start.  Luckily I saw the warning of flat key battery flash up before it died, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue why it didn't start.  I will now replace my key battery every 12 months.  I can't understand why there is no warning until the battery has actually died.

[Peachysheff]

HI pryorkshire

I have just changed the the battery in my fob after 18 months as well, I was notified the battery wanted changing when I opened the driver's door whilst the engine was running, it gave a warning in the centre binacle. Hope this helps any one else who is concerned.

[silver1011]

[StEdmund]

It would appear that the battery in the keyfob dies suddenly with very little warning; I'm wondering if 'sudden death' is a characteristic of this type of battery. We have kitchen digital scales which operate using 2x CR2032 batteries and they too can die with no warning in the middle of weighing out ingredients - very frustrating; there is no slowing-down or fading of the display ......... just death.

[malerogue]

Remove batteries from the spares as a precaution. Inserted and tested after a couple of days to make sure keys had not lost synchronisation... all ok.

[Gabi4]

After 10 months, I changed again the battery.  It gave me that warning on instrument cluster.

It eats batteries on bread! 😅

[StEdmund]

12 hours ago, Gabi4 said:

After 10 months, I changed again the battery.  It gave me that warning on instrument cluster.

It eats batteries on bread! 😅

 

I suspect that the brand of battery used could be important. My Karok is now 16 months old - the batteries supplied in the keyfobs are both Panasonic, so I have a pair of Panasonics at the ready to replace the originals. Next time, I will try Renata because I found that on the digital kitchen scales, with the same regular use, they lasted 3 x as long as Maxells.

Maybe, when changing batteries, it would be worth taking note of which brands we are using and posting any observations on here.

[shyVRS245]

Our Karoq which will be 2 years old in 10 days time is currently at the Dealers to see if there is a fix as the 2 key fobs (KESSY-SEL spec) have gone through 4 batteries (Panasonic) in 22,800 miles so far. I replaced the original key fob myself with a RENATA battery because I have lost faith with the dealer supplied Panasonic ones. We have had no warnings regarding the batteries needing changing just the locked out, key not detected fault code so hopefully they can get to the bottom of it because it's starting to really annoy me.

[FrankfurtDave]

51 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Our Karoq which will be 2 years old in 10 days time is currently at the Dealers to see if there is a fix as the 2 key fobs (KESSY-SEL spec) have gone through 4 batteries (Panasonic) in 22,800 miles so far. I replaced the original key fob myself with a RENATA battery because I have lost faith with the dealer supplied Panasonic ones. We have had no warnings regarding the batteries needing changing just the locked out, key not detected fault code so hopefully they can get to the bottom of it because it's starting to really annoy me.

 

The best fix would be that they upgrade everyone to the new style keys as the old KESSY system is inherently flawed in the design. This compromises the battery usage and more importantly the car security.

 

With the new system, whereby they only ping the car when the key is actually in motion, the battery consumption would dramtically be reduced and the man in the middle attacks that occur overnight would also be fixed.

 

However as that would be a costly replacement for the complete VW group we can forget that idea.

[shyVRS245]

5 minutes ago, FrankfurtDave said:

 

The best fix would be that they upgrade everyone to the new style keys as the old KESSY system is inherently flawed in the design. This compromises the battery usage and more importantly the car security.

 

With the new system, whereby they only ping the car when the key is actually in motion, the battery consumption would dramtically be reduced and the man in the middle attacks that occur overnight would also be fixed.

 

However as that would be a costly replacement for the complete VW group we can forget that idea.

Noticed the key fob design is quite different on my March 2019 Superb (which has KESSY and electric boot function)  compared to the Karoq's older looking design but only time will tell if the batteries last any longer (at least I have 3 keys with the Superb).

[Sanqhar]

Does disabling kessy when parked have any effect on battery life?

 

tom

[FrankfurtDave]

1 hour ago, Sanqhar said:

Does disabling kessy when parked have any effect on battery life?

 

tom

 

I doubt it, I simply think that the coding would disable the handling in the car and would not be transmitted as well the keyfobs.

[Gabi4]

5 hours ago, StEdmund said:

I suspect that the brand of battery used could be important. My Karok is now 16 months old - the batteries supplied in the 

Maybe, when changing batteries, it would be worth taking note of which brands we are using and posting any observations on here.

In fact, it's the second time I change them. The originals last 8 months. They were indeed, Panasonic.

[shyVRS245]

Just now, Gabi4 said:

In fact, it's the second time I change them. The originals last 8 months. They were indeed, Panasonic.

Dealer told me this morning they expect the batteries to last just 12 months which is great if you are on 12 month/9,400 mile servicing, but not so good if you are on 2 year/18,800 mile variable servicing like our cars.